The reason why Cross River Is COVID-19 Free – Ayade

Cross River State Governor Ben Ayade has explained some of the strategies used to ensure that the state has not recorded any case of COVID-19.

The governor in an interview on Channels Television breakfast programme, Sunrise Daily, said among many other strategies, Cross River State responded quickly to the pandemic by shutting its borders, closing airways and declaring ‘No Mask No Movement.’

He added that he also, personally, kept vigil at borders to ensure safety.

“As soon as we started reading in the papers and watching on Television the impact of the pandemic globally, what we did as a state was to quickly respond to it by blocking our state against the virus. We locked our borders immediately and commenced ‘No Mask No Movement’. We were proactive and we have continued to sustain that.

“Also, because we share borders with Cameroon, we ordered over 100 brand new vehicles. Policed all our borders, between Nigeria and Cameroon, including the legal and illegal. We ensured that we blocked all access to other states. We closed our airways.

“I lead from the front, I personally spent the night at the borders, keeping vigil to ensure that entry and exit points are safe. Our borders and being manned by senior security operatives to ensure there is no compromise at that point,” he explained.

Governor Ayade added that the strategy deployed by the state government has been deliberate and this obviously has worked for them.

He said this even earned them a pass mark from Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the Federal Ministry of Health.

“Yesterday, NCDC and Federal Ministry of health officials just left here and they gave us pass mark. They were very impressed with our isolation centres and laboratories. They were very impressed with our border closures and checkpoints we have put in place to ensure the use of masks,” the governor said.

Cross River and Kogi State have remained the only states in Nigeria yet to record any case of the COVID-19 virus.